644 HOME AND HOUSEHOLD. 



tion and edge ; also coverings or shams for the pillows, to match, 

 which are to be removed at night. 



Curtains for the windows may be made of this same material, 

 when durability is an object ; but there is nothing daintier, 

 fresher, or more attractive than pure white bed-coverings and 

 window-hangings. The useful dry-goods box may again be 

 made to do service, by converting it into a bedroom table. 

 Obtain a box three feet high, four feet wide, and two and one- 

 half feet deep. Blocks of wood one inch thick and four inches 

 square may be nailed beneath the corners, and casters fitted 

 into them ; or this may be omitted, as it is only a convenience 

 in moving it. The box should be placed open side out, and 

 fitted with a shelf or two. The whole inside should be neatly 

 papered. On the top, at the back, one or two small boxes may 

 be fastened, and the whole covered with oil-cloth, cretonne, or 

 some suitable material. Fasten curtains in front, to conceal 

 the inside shelves. 



A still simpler table may be made of half a barrel, sawed into 

 lengthwise, so as to make half a circle. This should be fitted 

 firmly to the wall, and covered with some stout material. An 

 old quilt makes a good foundation. Ingenuity will suggest 

 numberless pretty coverings for this. Thin muslin, lined with 

 some bright color, is very effective. In a room where the 

 prevailing color is blue, a dash of it in the wall-paper and 

 carpet, it would be pretty with muslin, lined with blue cambric, 

 for curtains, bed-covering, and all the dry-goods boxes herein 

 suggested, would be very pretty, but would necessitate much- 

 washing and ironing, if used in any way but occasionally as a 

 guest-chamber. 



When furnishing the guest-room, there are many little things 

 which would greatly add to the comfort and "at homeativeness " 

 of any guest : these little things should not be forgotten, nor 

 considered of little importance. On the pin-cushion should be 

 a goodly supply of pins of several sizes, in both black and white. 

 If the cushion be too fine to be useful, a smaller cushion should 

 surely be reckoned in with the bureau furnishings, to be used as 

 a pin-cushion, and not merely for looks. An extra paper or two 

 should be placed in reserve in the upper drawer, for we all know 

 how pins do take unto themselves wings and fly away. Another 



